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 Memories of Merelbeke - een randgemeente van Gent

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Category Albums Files
Belgium 1970s
7 256
MERELBEKE


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We lived in Belgium in the 1970s. Dad, Eric Hayles was working for Volvo Europa at Oostakker near Ghent and we moved into a house in the Verlorenbroodstraat in Merelbeke. We hope you enjoy our evocative photos of life in Merelbeke, a suburb of Ghent.

56 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 2127 times

GHENT/GENT BELGIUM


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We lived near the beautiful city of Ghent (Gent) in Belgium in East Flanders (Oost Vlaanderen) from 1974 till 1978, although dad was there for about another six years after that. We hope you enjoy some of our photo archive from those happy times.

48 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 713 times

MERELBEKE FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS


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Some of our wonderful neighbours and friends when we lived in Merelbeke. If you know any names that we haven't mentioned, please add them below the photo.

109 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 950 times

DANSCLUB TERPSICHORE MERELBEKE


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Mum and dad had dancing lessons at the Dansclub Terpsichore in Hundelgemsesteenweg in 1977-78. These are pictures from one of their social functions.

15 files, last one added on Mar 15, 2014
Album viewed 747 times

OUT AND ABOUT IN BELGIUM


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13 files, last one added on Mar 23, 2014
Album viewed 695 times

Our Welsh friends, the Davies Family


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We attended church at the Evangelisch Centruum, Burgstraat, Gent, where we got to know the wonderful Davies family from Wales (the clue was in the name!) Charles and Betty, Godfrey, Joseph and Noel. There were also two sisters who weren't in Belgium. Charles was an accomplished artists and signwriter. He once had a job painting the Coca Cola logo on lorries, so he must have been very good! He also painted a sign for our neighbours opposite which read "Bobinage van motoren".

11 files, last one added on Apr 26, 2014
Album viewed 614 times

Documentation


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Leaflets and other documentation from our time in Belgium

4 files, last one added on Dec 05, 2017
Album viewed 393 times

 

7 albums on 1 page(s)

Belgium 1990s
1 40
VISITS TO MERELBEKE IN 1990s


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In the 1990s, along came the internet. Jonathan put "Merelbeke" into a search engine to see what he would see, and stumbled across the website of Sint-Michielsschool. After writing a greeting in the guest book he received a reply from Guy van Heddegem, and a friendship developed which led to Jonathan visiting Merelbeke in 1998 and writing a song which was performed at the school's Eindejaarshow. He visited again the following year. Here are some pictures from those shows.... we hope to bring you some video clips in the future too. Photos mostly by Jonathan Hayles, captions by Guy van Heddegem.

40 files, last one added on Mar 16, 2014
Album viewed 615 times

 

1 albums on 1 page(s)

296 files in 8 albums and 2 categories with 5 comments viewed 232,772 times

Last additions
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GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/44501 viewsDec 05, 2017
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GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/44298 viewsDec 05, 2017
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1/41081 viewsDec 05, 2017
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GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4778 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017
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Cards at Number 31969 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele1096 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried's mother in Moortsele1015 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele1022 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 19781581 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa991 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly983 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa973 viewsOct 27, 2014

Random files
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Cousin David and Michael546 views
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Park Hotel headed notepaper641 viewsFrom the Park Hotel, Wilsonplein, Gent, 1974.
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The Cowans and the Davies's561 viewsA visit to Ypres. Mr and Mrs Cowan from Hayes Town Chapel were staying with us. Mum and Dad took them on a visit to Ypres. Betty and Charles Davies are there too, along with their sons Noel and Joseph. Dad can't remember if you all met up in Ypres or travelled together. Either way, he didn't have room in our car for his sons, and it was as a result of that he decided to buy the Volkwagen minibus you see in some of our other pictures. It was so if friends came over from England, we could all go out together.
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Hilda & Marcel Meersschaut with our Uncle Fred502 views
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On the roof816 viewsJonathan, Andrew and Michael on the roof of our 1970s modernist Belgian house.
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Godfrey's Reliant Robin....565 viewsFound this among dad's pictures. He obviously took it when he came to pick us up from church and was waiting around. He took a few pix of the roads and would have had no idea that was Godfrey's car parked there... not until I told him today, nearly 40 years later!!

Eeeek! For anyone who hasn't found out yet, 40 years is nothing... it flashes by.
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Sky in Verlorenbroodstraat Merelbeke, 1970s855 views
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Foundations of Number 319815 views
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Volvo colleague Dennis Kinchen in Lourdes708 viewsDad and Dennis visited Lourdes, near Oostakker, in 1974 just to see why everyone else was heading there.
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Josh in living room of Verlorenbrooadstraat 29567 views
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Don Pepe Merelbeke 1977 by night, by Jonathan Hayles1127 viewsTaken on an Agfa box camera resting on the ground with an exposure of about one minute.
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Ghent 1979651 views